When
people pretend to be mentally ill, it's really annoying to those of us
who actually are.
It's usually part of an act, attached to something like a career in music. You know what I'm talking about.
Generally the guise of illness is presented one of two ways: the happy maniac, or the over-sensitive quasi-prophet. Those are real conditions, but not nearly as much fun as it looks like.
Then you get the real thing.
Kurt Cobain is remembered by many as a gifted songwriter who wasted his talent on whining and self-pity. That's probably because a lot of other "artists" heard his real shit and copied the life out of it. Turned it into a parody.
Cobain was actually sick in the head. He had a chemical imbalance that made him depressed all the time. That doesn't detract from his art, but it might explain some of it.
Don't care. He wrote kick-ass songs and sang em right from the bottoms of his feet to crown of his tortured little head. Anybody who co-opted his suffering as a gimmick was - in ignorance or indifference - complicit in his death.
I don't know what the hell was going on in Michael Jackson's head, but it was painful and it was real. People forget that a lot. And it got him into some serious trouble.
He could have cashed in on songs about being abused and dehumanized. He didn't. Had plenty of material available for it, but had other ideas.
He went the way opposite to that of Cobain for the most part, reigning as the king of a musical genre dedicated to glossing over pain and focusing on something like happiness.
Jackson's catalog of work isn't devoid of evidence that he suffered, but he seemed pretty hell-bent on a Disney-type worldview. Not my thing, but I'll be the first to say he was really good at it.
He also had a thing for the macabre, and it periodically found an outlet. But even that was tempered to the level of Teen Wolf.
With regard to conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, I can only stand back in awe and wonder at how people with em get through the day.
And you know, lots of superstars have em. Comedians are notorious for bipolar disorder (especially funniest ones). Some of the best lyricists are a bit delusional. I hear Mozart was psychotic. My favorite painter of all time cut off his own ear to impress a girl.
THAT is crazy.
It's usually part of an act, attached to something like a career in music. You know what I'm talking about.
Generally the guise of illness is presented one of two ways: the happy maniac, or the over-sensitive quasi-prophet. Those are real conditions, but not nearly as much fun as it looks like.
Then you get the real thing.
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain is remembered by many as a gifted songwriter who wasted his talent on whining and self-pity. That's probably because a lot of other "artists" heard his real shit and copied the life out of it. Turned it into a parody.
Cobain was actually sick in the head. He had a chemical imbalance that made him depressed all the time. That doesn't detract from his art, but it might explain some of it.
Don't care. He wrote kick-ass songs and sang em right from the bottoms of his feet to crown of his tortured little head. Anybody who co-opted his suffering as a gimmick was - in ignorance or indifference - complicit in his death.
"Hey Mom! Look! A Kurt Cobain Inaction Figure! Can we ask if they have the one with no head?"
Michael Jackson
I don't know what the hell was going on in Michael Jackson's head, but it was painful and it was real. People forget that a lot. And it got him into some serious trouble.
He could have cashed in on songs about being abused and dehumanized. He didn't. Had plenty of material available for it, but had other ideas.
He went the way opposite to that of Cobain for the most part, reigning as the king of a musical genre dedicated to glossing over pain and focusing on something like happiness.
Jackson's catalog of work isn't devoid of evidence that he suffered, but he seemed pretty hell-bent on a Disney-type worldview. Not my thing, but I'll be the first to say he was really good at it.
He also had a thing for the macabre, and it periodically found an outlet. But even that was tempered to the level of Teen Wolf.
Okay, maybe not quite Teen Wolf...
With regard to conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, I can only stand back in awe and wonder at how people with em get through the day.
And you know, lots of superstars have em. Comedians are notorious for bipolar disorder (especially funniest ones). Some of the best lyricists are a bit delusional. I hear Mozart was psychotic. My favorite painter of all time cut off his own ear to impress a girl.
THAT is crazy.
Then
there are gimmicky, self-absorbed twats presented as artists, with gimmicky quirks
presented as torturous mental illness. Not naming names; you know who and what you are.
No matter how hard I try to hold off and give em the benefit of the (narrow margin of) doubt, it's really hard not to judge them harshly. Each one (in ignorance I'm sure) makes himself a parody of genuine suffering, and makes it harder for people to feel compassion for the truly mentally ill. Because now the mentally ill look like gimmicky, self-absorbed twats to the untrained eye.
No matter how hard I try to hold off and give em the benefit of the (narrow margin of) doubt, it's really hard not to judge them harshly. Each one (in ignorance I'm sure) makes himself a parody of genuine suffering, and makes it harder for people to feel compassion for the truly mentally ill. Because now the mentally ill look like gimmicky, self-absorbed twats to the untrained eye.
Why
do it? Why would you take away the seriousness of somebody's pain and
turn it into an everyday costume?
People dig weird artists, and many forms of mental illness are still romanticized. It's the obvious answer, and the most disappointing: If you can be that romantic maniac (romaniac?), you can sell more of whatever you're selling, as long as it's art.
I challenge you to watch the documentary about his life and not have your mind blown. This is a story of survival and relentlessness. Not just for him, but for his family.
A lot of things dovetailed to make DJ who he is today - a 40+y/o savant who lives with his parents. I say savant; sedated crazy person might be more accurate, if not charitable. I say it with nothing but love.
During his stint as a professional recording artist, he appeared to be an outwardly peaceful man with a few odd (but honorable) obsessions.
He also had a penchant for sabotaging himself in the most surprising ways. I won't recount em here; watch the movie.
Once in a while, he would lash out unexpectedly. With a boiling combination of religious conviction and paranoia, he has been known to bean people with pipes, and seize control of small aircraft in mid-flight with the goal of nose-diving into the ground. These episodes are rare, more so now that he's medicated.
While most people can't relate to that, his songs continue to resonate with many. He replicated his first album one-at-a-time on a cassette deck, and that's the album for which he's still the pride of Austin's independent music scene. People run into him in the street and are starstruck... when they recognize him.
He's also an accomplished artist in the visual field as well. His simple drawings are featured in gallery exhibitions (stuck right to the walls with Scotch tape), and bought up voraciously by private collectors. The honesty and total absence of guile carry over from his lyrics to his drawings, and people appreciate it.
As
far as I know, this is one artist whose particular brand of crazy
hasn't been copied. Could be for any reason. Maybe this is something you
just can't fake.
I'd like to think people are at least smart or decent enough to recognize something so undeniably sacred. Sometimes the crazy in a person is just enough to hook in some admiration (as in the case with Kurt Cobain) or generate contempt (for many, this was Michael Jackson). Other times it's so complete, all you can do is stand in awe of the one who lives with it every day.
See you in another present...
People dig weird artists, and many forms of mental illness are still romanticized. It's the obvious answer, and the most disappointing: If you can be that romantic maniac (romaniac?), you can sell more of whatever you're selling, as long as it's art.
Daniel Johnston
I challenge you to watch the documentary about his life and not have your mind blown. This is a story of survival and relentlessness. Not just for him, but for his family.
A lot of things dovetailed to make DJ who he is today - a 40+y/o savant who lives with his parents. I say savant; sedated crazy person might be more accurate, if not charitable. I say it with nothing but love.
During his stint as a professional recording artist, he appeared to be an outwardly peaceful man with a few odd (but honorable) obsessions.
He also had a penchant for sabotaging himself in the most surprising ways. I won't recount em here; watch the movie.
Once in a while, he would lash out unexpectedly. With a boiling combination of religious conviction and paranoia, he has been known to bean people with pipes, and seize control of small aircraft in mid-flight with the goal of nose-diving into the ground. These episodes are rare, more so now that he's medicated.
While most people can't relate to that, his songs continue to resonate with many. He replicated his first album one-at-a-time on a cassette deck, and that's the album for which he's still the pride of Austin's independent music scene. People run into him in the street and are starstruck... when they recognize him.
He's also an accomplished artist in the visual field as well. His simple drawings are featured in gallery exhibitions (stuck right to the walls with Scotch tape), and bought up voraciously by private collectors. The honesty and total absence of guile carry over from his lyrics to his drawings, and people appreciate it.
"Circumstances"
No name given.
I'd like to think people are at least smart or decent enough to recognize something so undeniably sacred. Sometimes the crazy in a person is just enough to hook in some admiration (as in the case with Kurt Cobain) or generate contempt (for many, this was Michael Jackson). Other times it's so complete, all you can do is stand in awe of the one who lives with it every day.
His Opus Vitae, recorded in a garage on 2 stereo cassette decks.
See you in another present...
Interesting. Saw the doc on Johnston awhile back and yes he has a serious illness. I have no illness just a passion for certain things but your are right as people seem to be drawn to the elements you described or to the meaningless music.
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